Effect of roll polishing parameters on mechanical properties of austenitic stainless steels

Surface finishing methods are rapidly advancing in today's industry and new methods are being developed and used. However, the study of the effect of these methods on the mechanical properties of the material is limited and not at the desired level. Polishing and buffing of surfaces are widely used because they provide improvements in surface properties. Roller burnishing is a surface finishing process that is applied to the part surface under a certain force and improves the surface quality. In this process, which is performed cold, the rolling tool exposes the workpiece surface to plastic deformation and provides improvements in surface and surface roughness. Since the process is performed cold, there is no change in the chemical properties of the material. The use of this process, which has a narrow usage area, has increased day by day. Roller burnishing is a preferred surface finishing process due to its low cost and ease of use. In this study, specimens made of AISI 316 austenitic stainless steel were subjected to roller burnishing. For roller burnishing application, force, pass and feed rate parameters were varied at 3 different levels. The processes were applied to the samples according to the determined parameters and the effects of the parameters on the microhardness, tensile strength, diameter changes and roughness values of the samples were determined experimentally. In the experiments, it is seen that the best surface roughness value after the roller burnishing process was measured as 0.072 µm. It was determined that the roller burnishing process caused an increase in the microhardness values of the sample walls in general, and the microhardness value increased with the increase in the number of passes and feed rate. On the other hand, it was also determined that the diameter change increased with increasing force and number of passes.